Tipsheet

As We Inch Closer to World War III, Here's What Biden's State Department Is Focused on

Leah Barkoukis
Leah Barkoukis  |  October 26, 2023 12:30 PM

The Israel-Hamas war is poised to escalate, threatening “Armageddon,” and Americans are still being held hostage in Gaza. But on Thursday, the State Department focused its attention on other matters—namely, celebrating “Intersex Awareness Day.”

"Today in celebration and recognition of Intersex Awareness Day, we affirm the United States’ commitment to promoting and protecting the human rights of Intersex persons globally,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement. “As President Biden stated in his 2021 Memorandum on Advancing the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Persons Around the World, it is the policy of the United States to pursue an end to violence and discrimination on the bases of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and sex characteristics.

“Intersex persons often face stigma and discrimination in accessing education, healthcare, and legal recognition, and are subjected to medically unnecessary surgeries,” he continued. “These harmful practices, which can cause lifelong negative physical and emotional consequences, are a medical form of so-called conversion therapy practices in that they seek to physically “convert” Intersex children into non-Intersex children.  We applaud all activists, organizations and governments working to raise visibility and protect Intersex persons’ rights to bodily integrity and to ensure equal protection and recognition before the law.”

While the prevailing narrative suggests 1.7 percent of the population is intersex, physician and psychologist Leonard Sax argues the true figure is closer to .018 percent “if the term intersex … [is] restricted to those conditions in which chromosomal sex is inconsistent with phenotypic sex, or in which the phenotype is not classifiable as either male or female.”

Critics blasted the statement given the many global and domestic crises raging. 

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